Farmhands on Bikes: Who We Are

Meet two of the biking farmhands, Erin Froese and Nyree
Bridgman. Along with group member, Leanna Wiebe, and six
other farmhands (TBA) from Winnipeg, MB, we are ready for
our cycling and volunteering adventure in August!

Hey! 
We are an independent group of people who are planning to join up to do a short bike tour, volunteering on farms in South-Western Manitoba along the way. This tour will be called Farmhands on Bikes and take place Aug. 17-20, 2018. As biking farmhands, we hope to build relationships between the urban and rural, people and the land.

Nyree tuning up some bikes
at Fresh Roots Farm during an
exploratory tour in June, 2018.

The idea

This pilot project grew from the minds of a couple of bike enthusiasts and budding small-scale farmers. We hope that this bike tour could become an annual endeavor in the future

Erin is a full-time urban farmer ready to
lend her expertise during our Aug. tour.

So here is the idea/plan:
Through partnership with FortWhyte Farms and The WRENCH, a bike shop in Winnipeg, we have invited 6 youth from inner-city Winnipeg to join us on a short bike tour in South-Western Manitoba. The plan is to cycle between several farms in the Pembina Valley region over August 17 – 20, 2018. We would stop at a couple of different farms to visit and lend a hand during harvest season. We would also pitch our tents on their land and rest up for the following day of cycling and working.

Why?

There are a number of reasons why we want to embark on this adventure. Firstly, cycling is a wonderful way to experience the landscape. We are a group of youth and young adults who want to experience the landscape through this slow form of transportation and to grow in love for the land. This project aims to bridge the urban-rural divide while encouraging young people to explore the practice of farming. The folks who will be participating in this adventure will be diverse, both the farmers who we will be visiting and ourselves. We hope to bring together Indigenous people, newcomers, and settlers within Manitoba to build a more interconnected community. This project will encourage young people to learn about and engage in our food system enabling them to grow in confidence, learn about themselves and the land upon which they will travel and work.